Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

From Time To Time - Part Ten

Oct 22, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: From Time to Time

Audio Study Notes PDF

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon

2 Th 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.

We will begin to look at what it means for the man of sin to be revealed in his own time.

The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button.

Sunday October 22nd 2023
From Time to Time – Part 10

1). 2 Th 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

We will remember from our previous study that it was by no means difficult for us to understand what Paul had meant when he said, ‘He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.’ By going back to the foundation, looking at the types and then progressing forwards we saw that he was referring to the completion of the Holy Spirit’s work during this dispensation of searching for and procuring a bride for Christ in the antitype of that seen in Genesis Chapter 24. And when the two thousand years of that search are complete, then the Holy Spirit with respect to this mission only, will leave taking all Christians with Him. Those who have responded positively to His search, ‘I will go’, and those who have not.
	a). And at Christ’s Judgment Seat the Bride will be revealed from among all those who appear there – 2 Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Php 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Re 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

And this will be in fulfillment of the types we have seen through Ruth and Orpah, Rebekah and her maids, Abraham and Lot and the Woman who was built from a part of Adam’s body. And that prophetically pictured through the parables of the wise and foolish virgins, the faithful and unfaithful servants, and the man without a wedding garment.
	b). And it was with both faithful and unfaithful Christians at the resurrection/rapture of the church that Paul concluded his first letter to the Thessalonians, before dealing with the coming of the Day of the Lord on the earth in his second letter.
	c). And we had finished last week’s study by looking at verses concerning the resurrection/rapture from the Revelation, both from Chapters 1 and 4. And as we now want to consider the man of sin being revealed in his own time, we will go back to the events surrounding the resurrection/rapture as seen in Revelation Chapter 4 as our starting point Re 4:1 After these things [after the judgment of the seven churches seen in Chapter 2 and 3] I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, [the resurrection/rapture is seen again] and I will show you things which must take place after this.” [things that MUST take place following the resurrection/rapture and the judgments of the Judgment Seat]

These verses then still have the resurrection/rapture in view but have moved beyond this and the determinations made at the Judgment Seat, dealt with in Chapters 1-3, to deal with things that MUST take place once these determinations are complete.
	d). And as we will remember, once the Bride for Christ has been identified at the Judgment Seat, then the redemption of the inheritance that is to belong to those making up the Bride can begin, following exactly what we have seen through the type in the Book of Ruth – Ru 3:8 Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet. 9 And he said, “Who are you?” So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” 10 Then he said, “Blessed are you of the LORD, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. 12 Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 13 Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the LORD lives! Lie down until morning.”

It is as a result of Ruth being made known to Boaz’s on his threshing floor that Boaz begins the process of redeeming the inheritance and marrying Ruth. 
e). And we will also remember from Revelation Chapter 4, that it is following the events of Chapters 2-3, the Bride identified, that the angels who had not rebelled with Satan, seen as the twenty four elders, even though not ruling, will relinquish their crowns in readiness for those who will wear them during the Millennial Kingdom – Re 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, [signifying judgment being past] in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, [a representative number of the two thirds of the angels who did not rebel with Satan] clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God…………9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

The relinquishing of their crowns by the twenty four elders for those identified at the Judgment Seat who will ascend Christ’s throne to rule with Him in the Age to come, gives rise to the necessity of finding the One who is worthy to open the seals on the seven sealed scroll, which contains the terms of the redemption of the inheritance – Re 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

And the Lion of the tribe of Judah, a Lamb as though it had been slain, will take the seven sealed scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne, again following the type set in Ruth Chapter 4 – Ru 4:5 Then Boaz [forming a type of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb as though it had been slain] said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.” 6 And the close relative forming a type of God the Father] said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel. 8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal. [forming a type of the seven sealed scroll] 9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

Once the One worthy has been identified, then the seven sealed scroll can be opened, Daniel’s seventieth week can begin. Daniel’s seventieth week and the redemption of the inheritance are the same thing, and both begin when the man of sin will be revealed, this will now be his own time – 
Re 6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

And so, with the resurrection/rapture of the church, all Christians will be instantly transported from the time known as Man’s Day into the time of the Lord’s Day in the heavens. On the earth there will be a transition from the time of the dispensation of the church to the final seven years of the dispensation of the Jews, Daniel’s seventieth week. From the time when Antichrist is restrained to the time when he must be revealed. 
	f). And to go back to the opening verses we read this morning, we will again see that the man of sin will be revealed ‘in his own time’. And the reference to his own time is more than just the recognition of where he appears within the chronology of the end of days.

2). Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.

These are very familiar verses for us, but we customarily tend to stop reading at the end of v10. However, if we continue reading, we find that ‘A bird of prey from the east’ is seen as ‘the man who executes My counsel, from a far country.’ And this ‘bird of prey’, the man from a far country who executes the Lord’s counsel, is the Antichrist. And according to v11, with respect to this man, God says that His counsel will stand, He will bring it to pass, He has purposed it, He will do it. This then is in no doubt. The man of sin will be revealed in his own time to fulfill God’s purpose for him. And from v9-10, we see that the revealing of the Antichrist has been foreshadowed in the former things of old; the end of the matter has been declared from the beginning, and all had been set out in ancient times.
	a). So, to find the origins for this man’s revealing and the purpose for him executing the Lord’s counsel, ‘from ancient times’, where else would we go but back to the foundation and then progress forwards – Ge 8:3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on [above] the mountains of Ararat.

The flood of Noah’s day provides the foundational picture for the destruction of Gentile world power at the end of the tribulation. And Noah and his family resting in the ark above the mountains of Ararat, provide the picture for national Israel in that Day in her rightful place, above the nations of the earth, in a regal position as God’s restored firstborn son. But this is the foundation, providing a broad overview from ancient times of things not yet done. And there is no mention of a man of sin in connection with any of this, although satanic involvement is obvious – Ge 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

Satanic involvement with the peoples of the earth, for a revealed purpose that brought about God’s intervention at an exact time to bring these particular satanic schemes to an end – Ge 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Following the flood there was a new beginning with the sons of Noah, and there are two things in particular that we will note concerning the sons. Firstly – Ge 9:18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

From the three sons of Noah, the whole earth would be populated. In a broad sense then, mankind is seen at this point as divided into three groups. And with respect to these three groups, we see, secondly – 
Ge 9:25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” 26 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”

Shem is the only one of Noah’s sons shown to have God, and for the other sons to have access to God and His blessings, they would have to dwell in the tents of Shem, foreshadowing the promise that would be made to Abraham – Ge 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So then, following God’s judgment upon the peoples of the earth, picturing the overthrow of Gentile world power yet future, there was a new beginning as the families of the earth were divided for the purpose of receiving God’s blessings through just one of those families, the family of Shem, through whom will come Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the twelve sons.
	b). This is the foundational type. And as we continue onwards in Genesis, more detail is added to the foundation - Ge 10:8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

Nimrod, whose name in one derivation means rebellion, was a grandson of Ham, and as we see from our verses Nimrod built eight cities, of which the main city was Babel, Babylon.
c). We learn that he was ‘a mighty hunter before the Lord’, not a hunter of game as Esau would be but a hunter of men for the purpose of building a kingdom, which he did, a kingdom encompassing both Babylon and Assyria. The same two ‘kingdoms’ that took Israel into captivity, beginning in 722BC with the Assyrians and 605BC with the Babylonians. And as such, Nimrod forms the foundational type for the man of sin. The man who will himself go forth to establish a worldwide kingdom, which begins with his covenant made with many in Israel, which we have seen at the beginning of Revelation Chapter 6. A kingdom that reaches to the heavens with satanic involvement - Re 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

The account of Nimrod building the city of Babel, Babylon, then finds additional commentary in Genesis Chapter 11 – Ge 11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

We should not see the events recorded at the beginning of Chapter 11 as coming chronologically after the events of Chapter 10, but as dropping back to give commentary on what we see there. And what do we see when we put Chapters 10 and 11 together? We see a man, Nimrod, and those with him, who have created a kingdom centered on Babylon, who then want to build a tower, ‘whose top is in the heavens’, that they might make a name for themselves.
	d). Once again, we have a foundational type for the future kingdom of Antichrist, that we can place alongside the type given through the pre-flood world – Ge 11:5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

And just as with the pre-flood world, God came and looked at what Nimrod and those with him were doing in the plain of Shinar and made intervention to stop that which they were trying to accomplish. Another type for the yet future overthrow of Gentile world power – Mic 5:4 And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; Judgment on Israel's Enemies 5 And this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men. 6 They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our borders.

After God’s intervention through the flood of Noah we saw a new beginning and the division of the people of the earth with respect to the names of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Following God’s intervention at Babylon we see another new beginning this time presented through the introduction of Abraham in the genealogies of both Shem and Terah, the man to whom the promises would be given, beginning in Chapter 12 – Ge 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And following the destruction of the tower at Babel, the people of the earth were again divided, this time through different languages and then by scattering those different language groups ‘over the face of the earth’, forming nations.
	e). Each nation group had its own language, which was not understood by the other nation groups and each nation group was given its own geographical location on the earth. And about one hundred years after the flood, in the days of Peleg, God literally divided the land mass, separating the nation groups not only by language and location but also physically – Ge 10:25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

And the purpose for God making this division has been clearly stated for us – Deut 32:8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

Acts 17:26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us……..

The nations then have been set within their boundaries and given their pre-appointed times ‘so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him’. And this division was made ‘according to the number of the children of Israel’.
	f). And this will bring us back to a subject we have dealt with in previous weeks, through the type of Jonah, Israel’s calling to be God’s witnesses to the nations of the earth – Isa 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior. 12 I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses,” Says the LORD, “that I am God.

So then, in the days of Peleg, hundreds of years before the nation of Israel existed, God divided the nations of the earth in such a way as to fulfill what Scripture clearly states, that through the ministry of the Jews as God’s witnesses, the Gentile nations would seek the Lord and find Him. That they might ‘dwell in the tents of Shem’ and receive the promised blessings –
Ge 22:18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…….

And should we take all of this into the antitype, where Gentile world power will be completely overthrown for all time after the Lord returns to the earth, at the battle called Armageddon, what should we expect? Well, following the previous types, there will be a new beginning with a new order of rulers, and we shall expect those unsaved Gentiles surviving the tribulation, to be separated once again across the face of the earth ‘according to the number of the children of Israel’. So that, in the antitype of Jonah going to Nineveh, that great city, following his repentance, Israel as God’s witnesses, will take the good news of the Christ and His Kingdom and the blessings of God to the nations – Zec 8:23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

And so, to return to discovering why the man of sin must be revealed in his own time and what has been set from ancient times that are not yet done. We have seen established, in the foundation, spiritual truths set forth at the beginning that must be fulfilled at the end of the matter.
	g). There is a man who will come, whose aspirations will reach into the heavens as he establishes his kingdom. And this man has an inextricable connection with Babylon and the confines of the old Assyrian empire, found today in Iran, Iraq, and parts of Turkey. And to add more to the revealing of this man in his own time in relation to these things we will move on from Genesis to the Exodus – Ex 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.

This, however, will have to wait until next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

From Time To Time - Part Ten

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

From Time To Time - Part Ten

Oct 22, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: From Time to Time

Category: Sunday Morning

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon